This guide is for the owner or director of a business that already sells, such as a service company in Buenos Aires. The output is a record of commitments and a decision: approve an affordable scope, clarify a proposal or wait. Sixty days is the planning horizon used by this method. It is not a promised time to results, a mandatory Meta test length or a free advertising campaign.
Separate the cost you evaluate from the money you need available
The SBA's financial-management guidance distinguishes expense records from cash movement. It is general US guidance, not an Argentine accounting or tax rule. Your finance team should confirm your own due dates, currencies and final amounts.
Keep two columns. Project cost includes resources used, including your sales team's time. Payment or cash reservation records how much money must be available and when. If sales salaries are already funded within ordinary operations, allocating part of that time to the campaign helps evaluate its complete cost. It does not create another invoice for the same salary. Hiring additional staff creates a new payment that must appear in the schedule.
An accepted quote or an unpaid sale cannot cover the next obligation. The SBA's discussion of budgeting mistakes warns about confusing profit with cash, particularly where customers buy on credit. Our schedule below applies that distinction to an acquisition decision. It does not measure campaign profitability or recommend borrowing to fund it.
Tool 1: one row per obligation, with evidence and an owner
Copy this record and fill it using the proposal, agreement and documents your company already has. Mark an unknown item as pending, not zero. The person verifying a payment can differ from the person receiving it.
On mobile, scroll the table sideways.
| Item | Payee or resource | One-time or recurring | Evidence to request | Who confirms amount and date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Media | Meta, funded by the client | According to the agreed plan | Planned spend, account records and charges actually paid | Finance and campaign owner |
| Management | Contracted provider | According to contract | Markets, tasks, reviews, reporting and continuation terms | Owner and provider |
| Production | Internal team or producer | Separate initial work from renewals | Assets, formats, delivery, revisions and agreed rights | Marketing and producer |
| Page or destination | Web team, when needed | Separate development from maintenance | Constraint to resolve, deliverable and acceptance criteria | Marketing and web owner |
| CRM and measurement | Provider or internal team | Separate setup from licences | Required connections, data access and acceptance of the customer path | Sales, systems and finance |
| Sales handling | Internal time or an external provider | During response and follow-up | Owner, hours, allocated cost and coverage | Sales director |
| Taxes, fees or currency conversion | According to actual documents | Depends on the obligation | Currency and final amount verified by finance | Finance owner |
Add two fields to each row: commitment date and payment or reservation date. Planned media is not an issued invoice. Reconcile the amount reserved, the amount consumed and the charges. We do not assume how Meta bills your account or prescribe a universal payment date. Ask an authorized person to review its current conditions.
Before commissioning a new landing page or CRM, identify what fails in the existing path. A well-maintained table may be enough for an initial commercial review. If inquiries already arrive and can be followed through, adding another tool may add cost without resolving the main constraint.
A 30/60-day example with entirely invented figures
Suppose a service business chooses one offer and one service area. All amounts below are fictional monetary units. They are not ALTO ROI fees, market prices or a recommended budget. Taxes and currency conversion are excluded from the example; a real approval needs those final amounts confirmed.
On mobile, scroll the table sideways.
| Resource | Days 1–30 | Days 31–60 | Treatment in this example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Media | 1,000 | 1,000 | Reserved for advertising consumption, paid to Meta |
| Management | 300 | 300 | Contracted work in each period |
| Initial creative work | 400 | 0 | One initial delivery |
| Creative renewal | 0 | 150 | Additional scope already specified |
| CRM setup | 150 | 0 | A necessary connection in this example |
| CRM licence | 50 | 50 | Recurring |
| Allocated internal sales time | 200 | 200 | Existing payroll funded separately |
| Project cost considered | 2,100 | 1,700 | 3,800 over the 60 days |
| External payments or reservations | 1,900 | 1,500 | 3,400 over the 60 days |
The first sum is 1,000 + 300 + 400 + 150 + 50 + 200 = 2,100. The second is 1,000 + 300 + 150 + 50 + 200 = 1,700. In this exercise, we allocate all preparation to the 60-day horizon. That is not a mandatory accounting treatment.
The 400 units of internal time belong in the economic evaluation but do not become a second external payment. Normal payroll and operating obligations need their own protected cash. If the work requires an additional hire, add it to the payment schedule: 3,400 would no longer be the external total for this example.
This calculation is not CAC. Cost per customer requires unique people actually received, qualification, confirmed customers, corresponding costs and enough time for sales to mature. The Ad Profit Map helps explore economic limits. This record helps approve scope and payment commitments. The two serve complementary decisions.
Tool 2: compare both proposals over the same scope
Do not compare only the monthly management fee. Give both providers the same objective, period, market, workload and data requirements. Record what is included, what needs a third party and what is unpriced. “Creative included” needs a quantity, delivery type and revision rule. “CRM included” needs a verifiable deliverable.
Now imagine two fictional proposals, normalized to the same scope and the same 60 days. They represent no real agency and do not establish that a low fee means poor work.
On mobile, scroll the table sideways.
| Item over 60 days | Proposal A | Proposal B |
|---|---|---|
| Media, equal in both | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| Management | 600 | 450 |
| Agreed production and renewal | 550 | 750 |
| CRM setup | 150 | 250 |
| Licences | 100 | 100 |
| External payments or reservations | 3,400 | 3,550 |
| Allocated internal time, equal in both | 400 | 400 |
| Project cost considered | 3,800 | 3,950 |
B charges 150 less for management, but its external total is 150 higher: 3,550 − 3,400 = 150. The difference comes from the other items specified in the exercise. That still does not justify choosing A: deliverable quality, responsibilities, exit conditions and acceptance of the work remain to be checked. If actual scope differs, show the difference rather than presenting the totals as equivalent.
Ask six concrete questions: what will be delivered and when; who approves it; which final amount falls due; what sales data is needed; which report supports a decision; and what remains available if management stops. To review evidence after a provider's short campaign, use the Meta Ads trial decision guide. ALTO ROI's initial conversation is a separate step and does not include running that campaign.
If sales take time, a promise cannot fund the second month
Return to proposal A. The business has 2,500 units available for this project after protecting operating obligations. Also assume no new customers from this campaign pay before day 70. That is an invented timing assumption to show cash risk, not a typical sales cycle.
On mobile, scroll the table sideways.
| Point in time | Commitment in the example | Project cash still available |
|---|---|---|
| Start | 2,500 available is authorized | 2,500 |
| First period | 1,900 is paid or reserved | 600 |
| Before authorizing the second period | Another 1,500 is required | A 900 funding gap without new collections |
The calculation is 2,500 − 1,900 = 600; 1,500 − 600 = 900. We are not saying Meta collects the whole amount on day 31. This is a funding check for the next period's obligations. Replace the schedule with actual due dates. A late invoice does not remove a commitment already made.
The owner can use confirmed available cash, reduce scope that has not been contracted, defer unnecessary production or postpone the project. Any change requires reconsidering deliverables and the ability to evaluate the proposed question. Reducing only media while retaining every other payment may leave an exercise too limited to answer that question.
Prepare one scenario with no new collections during the horizon and another based on documented payment conditions. If the first cannot be funded, do not present the second as certain. A confirmed deposit differs from an expectation; also reserve what is needed to deliver the customer's service or handle possible refunds.
The owner's decision record: continue, clarify or wait
On mobile, scroll the table sideways.
| Situation | First decision | Owner | Condition for proceeding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope, amounts and cash confirmed | Authorize a cap and review date | Business owner and finance | Payments do not depend on sales still unknown |
| Proposal contains undefined items | Request clarification before comparison | Business owner and provider | Amounts, deliveries and exclusions are visible |
| First month fits, second does not | Rework scope or wait | Finance and business owner | The horizon is fundable without taking cash from ordinary obligations |
| Inquiries do not arrive or nobody answers | Fix reception before increasing spend | Sales and campaign owner | Received inquiries and follow-up owners can be verified |
| Market consists of a few known companies | Compare direct sales or partnerships | Commercial director | Meta offers a distinct acquisition hypothesis, beyond reach alone |
Review planned, committed, paid and pending amounts each week. Sales adds the status of people entering in each period. A WhatsApp click does not establish that a message arrived. Do not write off an opportunity whose cycle is still open; also do not use that pending opportunity to authorize cash you do not have.
If records are unreliable at day 30, the next task may be fixing measurement and response. If suitable inquiries arrive but cannot be served, the right decision may be to limit demand. If sales are paid, expansion still requires contribution, complete costs and agreed limits. There is no automatic rule to double spending. Thirty or sixty days do not independently prove the incremental effect of ads.
Apply this to your proposals and payment dates
Bring quotes, your customers' payment terms and a sample of commercial outcomes. ALTO ROI's Meta Ads management is scoped around the problem. The client pays media to Meta; management and production are agreed separately. The free initial 30–45-minute conversation helps organize these decisions before implementation, without guaranteeing sales.
Sources and limits
General references: SBA financial management and budgeting and forecasting mistakes, July 8, 2019, checked October 14, 2026. We do not apply US tax rules to Argentina. The records, two proposals and cash scenario are original hypothetical tools, not client results or ALTO ROI rates. We have not verified your account's billing settings, prescribed taxes or universal minimums, or established that campaigns fund themselves from their results.